King Wood Burning Stove

Are King Wood Burning Stoves A Green Energy Alternative?

A King wood stove can offer a lot of benefits to the homeowner who is looking for an alternative or supplementary way to heat his or her living area. Wood stoves are reliable, inexpensive, and safe to install and use. They also have one additional benefit which might surprise you: Wood and coal burning stoves are actually one of the most environmentally friendly heat sources on the market today. Here are three ways that burning wood actually helps preserve the environment.

New wood stoves are clean burning

Gone are the days of wood burning stoves that billow clouds of black smoke into the atmosphere. Newer models of wood burning stoves are more efficient and produce less pollution per person than the average electric or gas power plant. Many models of King wood stove are certified by the EPA as having low emissions and high efficiency. You can determine whether a stove is EPA certified by looking for a temporary paper label attached to the front of the stove or for a permanent metal plate affixed to the back of side of the stove box.

Keep in mind, however, that even the most efficient wood burning stove still emits some particulate pollution, and so regular and consistent use is not recommended in cities like Los Angeles which already have a high level of air pollution.

Wood heat is renewable

Unlike fossil fuels, wood is a renewable resource. A healthy and well-maintained woodlot can supply fuel for a stove more or less indefinitely. A ten acre woodlot can sustainably produce enough firewood to keep a King wood stove running year after year.

The key to renewable wood heat is knowing when and how to plant new saplings so that the woodlot keeps producing viable trees. Making sure that wood remains sustainable is one of the main ways to ensure the environmentally friendly status of heating with wood.

Wood heat is easier to produce

There are still cost - both monetary and environmental - associated with preparing wood for use in a King wood stove. However, compared to the cost of preparing a similar amount of raw materials for use as electric or gas heat, wood is relatively inexpensive.

Before it can be used as fuel, wood needs to be harvested, cut, and delivered. Several different factors determine the efficiency of these three steps, the most notable of which is probably how far the wood has to travel to reach your stove. If you harvest wood from your own lot or use a local service then your wood stove will be much more energy efficient then if the wood has to be transported a long way to reach you.